Trousers-guard for bicycle-riders



R. s. BOWMAN. TROUSERS GUARD FOR BICYCLE RIDERS. No. 562,274.

(No Model.)

Patented June 16, 1896.

I WITNESSES 3 3? ATTORNEYS.

ANDREW B GRAHAM PHOTOUTIQWASHINGTDND C,

set forth.

UNITED STATES PATENT OE IcE.

TROUSERS-GUARD FOR BICYCLE-RIDERS,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,274, dated June 16, 1896.

Application filed November 25, 1895. Serial No. 570,075. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT SEvERs Bow- MAN, of Be'rwick, in the county of Columbia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Trousers-Guard for Bicycle -Riders,' of which the following is a specification.

My improved guard, or clasp, is designed and adapted to clamp the slack fold of the trousers -leg and hold it drawn smoothly, without wrinkling or destroying the crease formed in the front portion of the same. The guard is constructed of a circular body portion, for embracing the leg of the user, and a clasp or clamp proper, for receiving and holding the fold of the trousers-leg, as hereinafter Figure 1 is a perspective View of my preferred form of guard. Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views illustrating the manner of ap plying the guard. Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section showing the jaws of the guard applied to the fold of a trousers-leg. Figs. 5 and 6 show modifications hereinafter described.

The guard A, Fig. 1, is constructed of a single piece of spring-Wire. The same is doubled or bent at the middle of its length, and the ends of the wire are brazed together, as shown at 1, or else .united by a sheet-metal clasp 2, Fig. 5. The three jaws 3 4 5 of the clasp or clampct, that receives and holds the fold of the trousers, are formed by bending and doubling the wire upon itself, and thus each of said jaws, and also the portion a, forming the approximately circular body of the guard, are composed of two practically parallel strands of wire. The outer extremities of the two outer jaws 4 5 of the clasp a are bent outwardly, for the purpose of enabling the clasp to be the more readily applied to the trousers-fold.

As shown in Fig. 1, the inner jaw 3 lies substantially opposite the space that intervenes the two outer jaws 4 5.

To apply the guardA to a trousers-leg, the latter is folded, as shown in Fig. 2, at the crease 6, usually formed in pressing the trousers, and is held drawn forward with one hand, while the clasp a is slipped over the slack fold with the other hand. Then the opposite end of the guard is passed around the leg of the user, whereby the trousers-fold is drawn laterally and clamped smooth against the leg, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of the jaws with the trousers-fold. When the device is thus applied, it is necessarily distended more or less, and the resulting outward pressure on r the jaws 3 4 5 causes them to approach each other and thus bite or clamp the trousers-fold more tightly than before, especially at or near their outer extremities; while the same pressure throws, or tends to throw, inward the rear portion m of the jaws, or the clamp formed by them, so that such portion remains parallel with the body a of the guard, in"

stead of projecting outside the same. My guard is thus distinguished by the firmness and security of its bite or clamping action on the trousers-fold, as well as by having no latorally-protruding portion, but holding the trousers-fold pressed close and smooth.

I do not claim, broadly, a guard having elastic clamping-jaws formed on or attached to one of its extremities, but

What I do claim is The improved guard, formed of an elastic body, composed of two strands of wire and terminating in an integral clamp constructed of three separate double-strand jaws, 3, 4, 5, v

the outer ones 4, 5, being formed directly by the reversely bent portion of the bodystrands, and all three'jaws being essentially 

